


Summer Lovin'

by supersapphics



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/F, beach girlfriends, lifeguard maia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-06-09
Packaged: 2020-04-23 11:12:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19149865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/supersapphics/pseuds/supersapphics
Summary: Isabelle gets a job selling smoothies at the beach. On her first day, she meets a lifeguard named Maia (nickname: goddess).





	Summer Lovin'

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to Rike, aka the Maiabelle queen! I hope you like this.

If someone had asked Isabelle a few months ago how’d she imagined her summer, interviewing for a job at a smoothie stand on the beach wouldn’t even have been on the list. But. Here she was.

“So, do you have any questions?” Becky asks.

“No, I think I’m good,” Isabelle replies. “Well, just one question. What’s the first shift I can take?”

“That eager to start, huh?” Becky chuckles. “Well…are you busy right now? We could use someone right now.”

“Sure! I came prepared.” Isabelle pats her bag, which earns her another chuckle from Becky.

“Ok. Then why don’t I leave you to it while I go in the back and do some inventory?”

“Sounds great.” Isabelle heads behind the counter while Becky disappears through the small door next to it. Isabelle can barely believe it’s possible to fit a room behind the counter, considering how tiny this smoothie stand is, but it works somehow. She sets down her bag on the floor behind the counter and picks up a copy of the menu to peruse.

“Hi!”

Isabelle’s head snaps up to see, quite literally, the most beautiful woman in all of existence standing on the other side of the counter. Best of all, the woman is wearing a bikini that does wonders for her figure.

“Hi,” Isabelle answers, a bit breathlessly.

“Can I get a small strawberry-raspberry blend?” the goddess asks.

“Um, sure. I’ll get that for you right away.” Isabelle turns to the machine and begins preparing the drink. As she does, she can’t resist looking over her shoulder to check on the goddess. The goddess who is still there, smiling brightly at her.

“I’m Maia, by the way. I’m a lifeguard here, so I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other.”

“That’s great!” Isabelle says happily, without thinking. Then she ducks her head, pretending to be focused on the smoothie, to hide her blush.

“It is great,” Maia agrees; Isabelle looks up just in time to see her grin. _Is Maia flirting with her?_ It’s always so hard to tell; some girls are just always sweet to everyone, without it meaning anything. How were you supposed to tell the difference between a girl being sweet to you in a friendly way versus a sapphic way?

“That’ll be $5.50,” she tells Maia, handing her the drink. “And I’m Isabelle.”

Maia hands over a few bills and Isabelle doesn’t think she’s imagining the way the other woman brushes their hands together more than necessary. She makes sure to do the same when she returns Maia’s change, and Maia beams at her.

“I have to get going, my shift is about to start,” Maia says. “But thanks for the drink. Do you work tomorrow, Isabelle?”

“I do,” Isabelle responds immediately, even though she has no idea what her schedule will look like. Becky had only given her the job 5 minutes ago, and she’d only gotten this shift right away because Becky’s regular girl, Clary, was home sick with the flu.

But Maia doesn’t have to know that.

“So I’ll see you then.” Maia waves at her with one hand while she raises the smoothie to her mouth with the other before departing. Isabelle doesn’t think she can be blamed for watching her until she vanishes from sight.

 

 

“Hey! Isabelle!”

Isabelle looks up from where she’d been crossing the beach to the smoothie stand to see Maia approaching her. Her mood instantly lifts.

“Hey, Maia.”

“I’m so glad to see you,” Maia says.

“Well, ditto.” Isabelle tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, smiling as she notices that Maia is wearing a different bikini today. It looks just as amazing as the day before though – even better.

“Do you have a moment before your shift starts?” Maia asks. “I need someone to help me apply sunscreen.”

“Oh…sure,” Isabelle says, her mind blanking for a second. The most beautiful woman she’s ever seen is asking her to put sunscreen on her? What did she do to deserve this?

“It’s just this one spot here, that I have trouble reaching,” Maia points toward her shoulder blades and hands over the bottle of sunscreen. “Do you mind?”

“Of course not.” Isabelle accepts the bottle and pours some into her hand. Then she notices that Maia’s gorgeous curls are blocking Maia’s equally stunning shoulder blades. She hesitates for a moment, wondering if she should ask Maia to brush her hair out of the way, but she decides against it at the last second.

She gently moves the hair away herself, her fingertips tingling as she does so. “Sorry,” she says when Maia shivers.

“No, it’s fine,” Maia says softly.

Isabelle begins applying the sunscreen to Maia’s skin, moving her fingers in slow, rhythmic circles. Maia shivers again.

“There, uh, I think I got it all.” Isabelle doesn’t take a step back though.

“Thanks.” Maia glances over her shoulder and catches sight of Isabelle right behind her. “Now I’m all prepared for my shift.”

“When do you work?”

“Everyday from 10 to 4, Monday through Friday. You?”

“Right now I’m working pretty much all the time because I’m filling in for the regular girl.”

“So yesterday was your first day?” Maia asks, smirking. “What a coincidence that I decided to visit that stand for the first time yesterday.”

“Yeah, lucky me,” Isabelle says, returning her smile.

“Have you ever been to this beach before?” Maia asks. “Because I’ve been lifeguarding here every summer for the past three years and I’ve never seen you.”

“No, this is my first time here.” Isabelle scratches the back of her neck, suddenly feeling awkward. “I, uh, I used to work for my parents, but I had to get out of there. They wanted me to be something I’m not and I just…couldn’t anymore.”

“I see.” Maia smiles at her again and it seems genuine. “So you came here, to a beach you don’t know, and got a job at a smoothie stand? That’s pretty impressive.”

“I didn’t have a lot of options,” Isabelle admits. “But this doesn’t seem too bad.”

Maia beams. “I’m happy to hear you say that.”

Isabelle can’t think of anything to say, too busy staring at the other woman adoringly. And Maia looks right back.

“I – have to go,” Isabelle says reluctantly after a moment. “My shift’s about to start.”

“So is mine. I’ll come by later for a smoothie, yeah?”

“Ok.” They exchange smiles one more time before Isabelle forces herself to turn around and head toward the smoothie stand. When she glances over her shoulder, Maia is still staring after her.

 

 

“So.”

“So.”

“Here we are. Our first date.”

“Our first date,” Isabelle echoes, her throat dry.

Maia had kept to her word and visited Isabelle at the smoothie stand early that afternoon. She’d stayed there the entire time she drank her smoothie – strawberry passion, medium – and had flirted with Isabelle incessantly. Which Isabelle had loved.

When Maia had expressed disappointment that her lunch break was ending and she had to head back to the lifeguard stand, Isabelle had summoned her courage and blurted out, “Do you want to hang out this evening after our shifts?”

Maia’s face had lit up with delight. “Sure.”

“Great. Maybe we could stay here, go for a swim? I actually love swimming but haven’t had an opportunity to in ages. And since we’re already at the beach…”

“We’re in the perfect place for it,” Maia had finished for her, still grinning. “Yeah. I’ll come by right after 4:00.”

“I can just meet you at the lifeguard stand,” Isabelle had started to protest, but Maia had been adamant.

“I’m going to come by and pick you up. Call me old-fashioned, but that’s how you treat a lady on your first date.”

And well, Isabelle hadn’t been able to argue with that. “Yeah. All right. I’ll see you later then.”

“Can’t wait.” Maia had winked at her before leaving and Isabelle had needed to bury her face in her hands to muffle her squeal.

Maia had stopped by right after 4:00, as promised, and hand in hand, they’d walked down to the water and sat down in the soft, warm sand, the waves crashing with a soothing chill across their bare feet. Both of them had been quiet at first, allowing themselves to relax after a long day, until Maia had broken the silence.

“I can’t believe it took two whole days for this to happen,” Maia says now.

Isabelle can’t help but chuckle at that. “You’re saying that like two days is an eternity.”

“It was for me,” Maia insists. “I just stopped by that smoothie stand expecting to get a nice drink and not only did I get that, I also met the most beautiful woman in the world. I would’ve asked you out right then, but I really did have to run to make it to my shift on time. And then later I got the idea to ask you out as soon as my shift was over, but by the time I made it back over to the smoothie stand, you were already gone.” She pouts here, which is the most adorable thing Isabelle has ever seen in her life.

“Yeah, sorry. Becky let me go early yesterday since it was my first day. I’m sorry I missed you, though.”

“It’s all right. I figured I’d just ask you out the next day since you’d told me you were working again, but luckily I didn’t even have to wait that long. I saw you this morning when you arrived and won you over with my sunblock move.”

“It was a good move,” Isabelle tells her.

Maia grins. “Thank you.”  

“So, you said this morning that you lifeguard here every summer?”

“Yeah, for three years now. It’s a nice temporary job and it gives me extra cash. During the school year I work as a lab assistant at my university, but I’d hate to be stuck inside a lab all summer. The beach is much better and it gives me hands on experience. I’m studying marine biology,” she adds, probably in reaction to the curiosity on Isabelle’s face. “I mean, I know being a lifeguard isn’t great prep for being a scientist, but it least it gets me to the beach.”

“That’s good,” Isabelle murmurs, staring at Maia admiringly. A scientist? Beauty and brains…

“What about you?”

“I’m premed.” Isabelle sighs and looks down at the water. “My parents wanted me to become a lawyer or go into politics like they did. But that just wasn’t for me. When I told them I wanted to switch to medicine they got pretty upset.”

“I’m sorry,” Maia says, her voice soft and gentle. “I can’t imagine why they would be. Most parents would be thrilled if their kid became a doctor.”

“Yeah, most parents. But it wasn’t their plan for me, which means they didn’t like it.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah. But it’s gotten better lately, at least with my mom. She’s starting to come around. But when I told them I didn’t want to work at their law firm anymore, it messed a lot of things up because it was already too late for me to get a job or an internship at my uni. So I just had to take whatever job I could find.”

Maia frowns. “Your parents didn’t…?”

“No,” Isabelle assures her. “They’d never do anything like that to me. If I told them I needed money, they wouldn’t hesitate to help me out. But I didn’t want to depend on them anymore, you know? I want to be independent. So until I can find a better job in my field, which I hopefully will next semester, I’ll take what I can get. And besides,” she finishes, reaching for Maia’s hand, “this job is great, because it led me to my first date with you.”

“And our first kiss,” Maia says, locking eyes with her. Isabelle inhales, the anticipation suddenly mounting, and her eyes flicker down to Maia’s mouth. Maia’s lips part and then she’s slowly leaning forward, one hand going up to cup Isabelle’s cheek, the other, still entwined with Isabelle’s.

The kiss is perfect. It’s soft and gentle but Isabelle still feels it all over her body. She doesn’t want it to end, but when it does, she doesn’t mind, because then she opens her eyes and sees Maia staring at her affectionately.

“You’re so beautiful, you know that?” Maia asks, her voice whisper soft.

Isabelle feels her heart thud a little faster in her chest in response. Instead of saying anything, she leans back in and kisses Maia again, sending grateful prayers to the heavens that she’d gotten this job.

 


End file.
